Farm: Day One

Down on the Farm

Introduce child to a farm by reading a few books on the subject. I like to read a fiction and nonfiction, if possible.

Examples: Farm Friends--Janine Scott
Big Red Farm--Christianne C. Jones
Big Red Barn--Margaret Wise Brown
Old MacDonald--Nancy Hellen
Color Farm--Lois Ehlert
Farm Alphabet Book--Jan Miller

Print out some farm animal flash cards, such as those found here. Use the cards while singing "Old MacDonald had a Farm." Encourage children to make animal sounds. After singing, ask children to point out animals from the cards, count them, etc.

Farm Games:

Make a color card game for your children to play with. Using 16 cards, draw a simple object on each card. You will need:
2 red objects – such as an apple and a hen.
2 green objects – such as a bean and lettuce.
2 yellow objects – such as corn and a baby chick.
2 blue objects – such as blue berries and a truck.
2 brown objects – such as a horse and a duck.
2 white objects – such as an egg and a goose.
2 orange objects – such as a pumpkin and a flower.
2 purple objects – such as grapes and an eggplant.
Color the objects, then give the cards to your children to play games such as, Go Fish or Concentration or a simple sorting game.

Let your toddler be a farmer and help to get the animals back into the barn!~ Print out this farm scene. Then cut out around each animal and the two halves of the barn. Tape the two barn halves onto a piece of paper so that the barn opens up in the middle. (Tape only the outside edges of the barn.) Then put the animals on the floor/room and have your toddler collect all the animals to put in the barn. Let him open the barn and place the animals inside. You can talk about the different sounds the animals make and how many of each there are! Why not sing Old MacDonald while your toddler is finding the animals!


Art:
Print out various farm animal pictures and a barn. (Examples are here.) Have children color them.

Cut out the pictures and make a farm scene. Glue some green paper on the bottom of a page for grass. Add the barn, animals, and some farm stickers, if available.


Practice making animal sounds, talking about the farm picture and asking children about their favorite animals and about what types of animals they would keep at their own farm. You could even change the words to "Old MacDonald" with your child as the farmer.